


Raspberry Salt

by Antarc



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Crying, First Kiss, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Medical Experimentation, It is time for a little pain my guys, M/M, Post-Season/Series 03, implied chronic illness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:15:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29765016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Antarc/pseuds/Antarc
Summary: "Maybe along the way, there’s complications with Steve’s short-term memory because of the repeated (possibly untreated) head trauma he’s suffered through over the years. He develops a few speech ticks and while he swears he hasn’t been in contact with anything Upside Down related, he’s taken in by the lab for examination.It’snota good time. They tell him they ‘just want to make sure he isn’t compromised’, but that entails a bunch of very uncomfortable tests that make his symptoms flare up and leave him feeling drained and confused.Finally, they decide further tests are necessary and shave his head."
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 10
Kudos: 65





	Raspberry Salt

Maybe along the way, there’s complications with Steve’s short-term memory because of the repeated (possibly untreated) head trauma he’s suffered through over the years. He develops a few speech ticks and while he swears he hasn’t been in contact with anything Upside Down related, he’s taken in by the lab for examination.

It’s _not_ a good time. They tell him they ‘just want to make sure he isn’t compromised’, but that entails a bunch of very uncomfortable tests that make his symptoms flare up and leave him feeling drained and confused.  
Finally, they decide further tests are necessary and shave his head.

And mostly, Steve’s fine with it. Or at least he pretends to be fine, because he’s kind of really scared of the government people. They don’t find anything Upside Down related. Just hand him a referral to a specialist 'free of charge for his trouble’ after a week.

He’s exhausted from lack of sleep and remembers too late that neither Robin nor his parents are in town to pick him up- not like he’d planned on spending a week at the lab.  
Someone calls up Billy, who might not be happy to make the familiar drive, but is willing to do it for Steve.

(They’ve started hanging out both because there’s no one really around anymore who can relate to the shit they’ve seen. Started living together because they’ve both kinda started to feel drawn to each other for deeper, more buried reasons that have only peeked through in short, vulnerable moments so far.)

(Billy doesn’t mention how some late nights while they watch Magnum, Steve traces the lightning scars on his back over and over again. And Steve doesn’t comment on Billy still calling him 'pretty boy’, but with the fondest, sweetest smile on his lips nowadays.)

(The thing is, Steve didn’t even think about calling Billy, because he knows how much time he spent marinating in that lab, wishing to be free of its white-walled hell. How much he’s hated every single time he’s had to return for follow-up examinations. Steve didn’t want to ask that of him.)

So when he’s suddenly told to grab his bag and go outside for his ride, he expects a taxi. Not Billy’s car gleaming in the morning sun. And not the expression on Billy’s face when he spots Steve’s shorn head: Disbelief and anger, wrapped up tight in silence when Steve settles next to him in the passenger seat.

He quietly answers Billy’s questions about what they were looking for. Tells him about the referral and how this was all pretty much a waste of time with a humorless chuckle. 

“These bastards,” Billy says furiously. 

On the radio, turned low, Dolly sings _“when you think about love, think about me”_ and Steve realizes Billy put on the Country station he knows Steve secretly enjoys listening to, even if Billy would rather be caught dead than admit to listening along as well. Steve takes a moment to bask in the music, the warmth of the sun and Billy’s presence as trees fly by. 

They head out of town for the day. At a gas stop, Billy picks up a baseball cap he fondly smushes onto Steve’s head and a cup of hot coffee that tastes dark and a little sweet just the way Steve likes it. He comes a little more alive after that. 

When they drive by a restaurant with outside seating in what looks like a garden overflowing with spring flowers, Billy says “Lets get lunch” and Steve goes “Only if you’re paying.” 

“You want me to take you on a date, Harrington?” Billy teases. And for a moment, Steve desperately wants to say yes. Nervous laughter bubbles up his throat and he looks away.

A warm hand closes around his own. He meets Billy’s eyes, bright blue and laser sharp like he can see right into Steve’s head. Like he’s prey, activating his fight or flight instinct. His heart beats in his throat. And just like that, on a wave of adrenaline, he says “Yeah. Take me on a date.”

Billy’s face breaks out into a blindingly bright smile and Steve’s stomach does little somersaults.

They eat creamy mushroom pasta and laugh over the photo that arrived in the mail of Lucas and Max in their new apartment. Her new haircut was probably meant to make her look professional and ready for her first serious job, but instead she looks eerily similar to how she did in elementary school. Billy even visited Susan to make a copy of a photo from Max’s first day at school.

The taste of sour raspberry sorbet they share for dessert lingers on Steve’s tongue. Back in the car, he licks the last remnants of it from Billy’s lips, stained pink and sweet. 

It’s when they arrive back home, evening light filtering into their hallway through the open door, that Steve’s hand pauses at taking off the cap. The weightlessness of his hair no longer being there makes him feel small and ugly. Of course, Billy notices.

“You’re okay with-” Billy’s eyes glance towards the top of his head. Underneath the baseball cap, his scalp itches and he whips it off in faked confidence. It’s like taking off a band aid, Steve tells himself, quick and painless! He forces a smile. Holds the cap in front of himself like a shield.

Billy is in his space a second later. Cradles his face in his hands and says “Hey you” like he means a thousand sweeter things that tug right at Steve’s vulnerable, fluttering core. 

Steve’s hand raises to his temple, in a motion to tuck his hair behind his ear that’s so deeply ingrained into his limbs that only the sensation of skin and short-shaven hair startles him out of it.  
His face crumbles.  
The more he tries to reign it in and fight against it, the more it _hurts_. So he lifts the cap to hide his face and buries the first of inevitable, painful sobs shaking his body in it.

It’s like the floodgates have been opened and his entire body falls into a rhythm of tension and release as he pours hot tears and snot into dark fabric. Big arms wrap around his shaking shoulders and pull him close to Billy’s solid, unmoving body. His throat aches when he tries to swallow down the humiliating, uselessly loud whines pushing out of him. Grows dizzy with trying to suck in air, even as his body does its very best to choke him up over and over again.

And through it all, Billy holds him. Slips a protective hand to the back of his head and pulls his face into the warmth of his neck and against his body, until he can finally breathe again. Knowing that he’s being kept safe. Like something precious.

**Author's Note:**

> Come tell me if you enjoyed this💗💗💗


End file.
